PROJECT MAKES SELF-RELIANCE DREAM TRUE

The afternoon's sticky-hot air overwhelmed Nellie Thomas as she slipped inside the aging, squat apartment. Methodically, Thomas snapped on a small window fan that sputtered and hummed as she tried in vain to cool the steamy room for her guest.

Thomas knows how the summer's heat can bake the cramped unit she has occupied for 18 years at Dixie Court, a Fort Lauderdale housing project for low-income families. But as a second-generation welfare mother, Thomas, 25, was never able to do any better. Until now.

Today, Thomas says she has gained a new determination. She has landed a job and gotten off welfare. And soon -- as soon as she can find a landlord who is certified to accept federal subsidies -- she will move out of the apartment she has shared with her mother since she was a child.

"I can't wait. I'm really anxious to move and get out on my own," Thomas said. "I'm having a hard time believing that this is all happening. It's like my prayers have been answered."

Thomas wasn't praying for Project Self-Sufficiency. But for her and for others, the program has been something of a godsend.

"It really has changed my whole life," said Thomas, the mother of children aged 4, 3, and 1. "I've always felt that if somebody would just give me a chance to prove myself that I could make it. For just once in my life, I know that I'm going to."

The national project, which began in Broward County in March, is providing job-training, day care, low-income housing and other benefits to single-parent welfare families. Thomas and others were selected in May from among thousands who have spent up to several years on the waiting list for Broward County Housing Authority's federally subsidized housing.

Between them, the housing authority and the Fort Lauderdale Housing Authority have 175 program slots. Thomas is among 66 participants chosen so far.

In part, program officials say, finding participants who meet eligibility requirements has prevented the two agencies from filling all the slots. Applicants must complete the program's extensive interviewing process, which includes a seven-hour aptitude and psychological test, and a three-week job- preparedness class.

"We're interested in people who really want to better themselves," said Henry Pitt, coordinator of the county program, which has filled 51 of its 100 available positions. "Some people want to stay on welfare. And, in a lot of cases, some people's families and friends don't want them to make it. We want people who have dreams and will give their best to try to make them come true."

Maria Bennett, Fort Lauderdale's project director, said the city only has filled 15 of its 75 slots: "The bottom line is that each individual must want to become independent and self-reliant."

Participants who complete certain phases of their individual programs are given certificates for subsidized housing as part of the program. The county and the city have each awarded four certificates.

"It is only scratching the surface but it is making an impact," Pitt said. "Basically there's been nothing that's been done like this before. Every small effort helps. I think you'll find, upon the success of the program, efforts will mushroom and more and more of people on welfare who have the determination to get off welfare will."

In Broward, an estimated $14.7 million is disbursed annually in welfare payments to 5,600 families, said Jim Moran, a Broward program analyst.

An estimated $1.2 billion is disbursed in monthly payments to some 3.1 million families across the Unites States, national statistics show.

Project Self-Suffiency's national goal is to target single parents who are unemployed, underemployed or undereducated, and to provide an individualized program for each client. The project will provide help for 9,833 families throughout the United States and 40 families in Guam and 60 in Puerto Rico, officials said. The program is being run in three other Florida cities -- Clearwater, Wachula and Palataka.

Locally, individual programs may include educational opportunities and/or vocational training through several agencies, Broward Employment Training Administration and Community Partnership program, which are donating $500,000 in in-kind services to the project.

The program also is limited to families who have no more than three children so that it will be realistic for those who finish the program to get jobs earning enough money to support their families and get off welfare, Pitt said.

"When we put the program together, we figured an individual needed to earn about $5 an hour to become self-supporting and get off the welfare rolls," Pitt said.

In many instances, some of those invited to participate in the program already were earning more than $5 an hour, Pitt said. However, because their jobs were not career-oriented and the people did not want to change jobs, they were not suited for the program, he said.

No men have met the eligibility requirements for the program so far, Pitt said.

Thomas typifies the kind of client the program is designed for, Pitt said.

She was unemployed for two years and on welfare equally as long. She needed housing. And more important, perhaps, Thomas was willing to try to better herself, Pitt said.

Thomas completed the program's testing, was paid $10 per day and received free transportation to a three-week, job-preparedness class. The class, she said, helped her with interviewing techniques and job searching. She landed her job a month later.

Her reward for her persistence: independence.

"I'm not earning a whole lot of money now, but I'm not on welfare anymore, either," said Thomas, who earns $768 a month as a clerk at the Broward Alcohol Rehabilitation Center. "I can buy whatever I want without having to worry about explaining how I got the money to the welfare people. And I don't have to fill out all those papers and answer all those questions just for $298 a month."

"I would do anything to keep from going back on welfare. It cripples you. I know a lady who was on welfare for 30 years. When her last child turned 17, they cut it off. Now, she has no job or way to support herself. She has to rely on her children for support. That's why I'm working. I don't want that for my children."